>>5807201You know instinctively who to trust. Slowly backing for the door with your eyes locked with Sofie's, you say softly: "If you truly wished me no harm, then you would have asked nicely rather than tried to suffocate me." Even after clearing the first turn, you can still feel her glare burned on your back. The rest of the run towards the nearest security officer passes by in a haze. Even as you deliver your report to the soldier in fits and gasps, you can't take your mind off of Silas. These Liberation Front people seem dangerous, would he really be fine handling them alone? What if there are more agents aboard the ship?
Suddenly, the world turns on its head. While you struggle to re-orient yourselves to the new up and down, the soldier you have been talking to yelled into his headset, "Breach on Deck 4. We have lost grav. Dispatch a fireteam to my position ASAP, we have unconfirmed report of LibFront activity. Do you copy? Over"
He repeats the message again and again, each time with increasing frustration. Eventually, he turned to you, "Can you take this holo-recording to the barracks? Actually, scratch that, whoever cut off the comms probably beat us to it already. We are not vacuumed yet, meaning life support still holds. Yes, take it there instead, have the techie broadcast it over the intercom."
You can't help asking, "And what will you do?"
"This is serious. I will go down to give your friend some backup."
You simply nod and start running in the opposite direction. However, queasiness remains in your guts. What if there are more agents aboard the ship? You don't remember Deck 4 being this far back. You round a couple turns and wait to contact Silas again to let him know of potential company.
Before you can open your mouth to say anything, however, you found yourself in cuffs. The sergeant glumly recites your rights as his soldiers frogmarch you to the barracks. Sabotaging the air circulator, attempted sabotage of the engines, hacking, conspiracy, looks like there are additional LibFront members on this ship, after all. Your heart sinks at the thought of Silas. Even his years of experience would be hard-pressed against cyber-enhanced troopers.
You spend the night restless in the little cell. That might actually be for the better because now the sergeant from earlier is crouching next to your bed. He whispers, "Sorry for the little show earlier. Silas's genius, all of it. Came to me before you woke up, wanted to help root out all the Libfreaks. Your private? Already shot dead in a gunfight." He showed you a bloody dogtag. "Now us in security are waiting to see if anyone else wants your head. However, we lost contact with Silas earlier. You know him, maybe you can help us..."
<span class="mu-s">Automatic Charisma Pass</span> There is no way this does not stink to high heaven. All you can do for now is try to lead the idiot on and squeeze him for all the information he's worth. The question is how to do it...
